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THE CYCUS.,^, 



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KNOWLEDGE 



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MEDIA, DELAWARE COUNTY, PA. 

AMERICAN PRINT, 186a 



THE LIBRARY 
OF CONGRfcftS 

WASHINGTON 



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EXPLANATORY REMARKS. 



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edge of the whole. The words that are the most nearly 
synonymous would be placed nearest together, and a 
writer who had formed a conception without knowing 
or being able to recall a term to represent it, could by 
turning to its proper place, the same as looking for the 
name of a plant or animal, determine if such a word re- 
ally exists. 

There would not be the same necessity for the general 
re-writing of a methodical encyclopedia, as each part 
would form a treatise in a measure independent of the 
rest, and might be revised as the progress of discovery 
in science and art made it expedient. But at the same 
time, it might be desirable that the volumes should con- 
form to some established size in order to adapt them to 
the same shelves. An enclyclopedia could be selected 
from various authors, the whole having an alphabetical 
index, referring words to their proper department, class, 
order, ^enus, aiic] species, which would adapt it to any 
series of works that might be selected. This would 
leave the purchaser at liberty to choose extensive works 
on his favorite studies, and to economize on those 
branches in which he took less interest, and in this way 
a series suited to his wants would more likely be brought 
within his means. .Many would give ten dollars for a re- 
vised part that would not give one hundred dollars for a 
revised scries, and I think the arrangement would prove 
a reciprocal benefit both to the publisher and his patron. 

Xo one reads to the best advantage who never stops 
to think and take memoranda by the way, and none are 
so much benefitted by their experiences as .those who re- 
flect much and note down their thoughts. But without 
some method in preserving notes a great number would 
only lead to great confusion. No doubt everyone who 
preserves many papers has some order of his own, but 
we want a system perfected by the experience of many, 
made known for the convenience of all, and which might 
assist the author in arranging his subjects. 

Some keep their loose notes in large books made of 



strong paper, so that the different subjects arc kept sep- 
arated by the leaves. Others paste the leaves of the 
books tog-ether in pairs so as to form pockets, each pock- 
et is labeled with the name of a division, so that a noto 
or scrap can readily be flung into its proper place, 
where all papers on the same subjnet wouli be as readi- 
ly found. There might be a number of such books or 
portfolios corresponding with the several branches of 
knowledge, and they would be equivalent to volumes of 
one's own reflections conveniently arranged for luturc 
reference. The writer has a case of sixteen drawers 
corresponding with the sixteen departments. The pa- 
pers relating to each class or order, or in some instances 
to each genus, are held together by a pair of spring 
clothes-pins such as are used by the laundress. These 
pins are so stiff and hold the papers so firmly bv the 
margin that he can turn them over and read them the 
same as if they were sewed together in book form. — 
This arrangement enables him at any time to insert a 
new scrap wherever he thinks best, among the other 
papers, and he can shuffle the notes whenever lie wishes 
to change their order. There is an advantage in having 
the slips of paper ot a uniform size and not too large, 
( and a note may cover one or more of these pioces. 

With the notes properly arranged they will form a 
connected chain of past observations and reflections, 
from which it would be easy to prepare an essay or 
treatise on any subject. If they were made known 
others probably have adopted better plans, lor scrap 
keeping, like merchantile book-keeping, is susceptible of 
system with beneficial results. The mind is often im- 
proved by recurring again to former thoughts — some new 
suggestions will arise — some further development will 
be made by reviving half forgotten themes, that might 
otherwise have vanished altogether from the memory. 

All words representing groups of things from the first 
primary divisions of knowledge down to species or va- 
rieties admit of being defined, and the definition is the 



notion or conception common to every 01^ of the group, 
and not to any one in particular. But individual things 
will not admit of definitions, they may be described if 

completed or merely pointed out, if nothing more than 
simpleideas. It is not necessary to divide many species 
up into particular things, and to name and diseribe them 
individually, but when such is the case and the individ- 
uals are quite numerous, it is better to treat them as a 
separate branch of knowledge than carry the iissiporous 
classification down to such minutia. Thus man consider- 
ed as an animal, constitutes a species in zoology, but 
when individually described he becomes a subject in bi- 
ography. All his different acts may be classed in cate- 
gories, but a particular narration of them is hisiory. In 
like manner terms in geography are susceptible of be 
classed, but the proper ;. v-;s of places together with 
their history may be called discriptive geography. There 
is a similar distinction between geological terms and the 
particulars of a geological survey or between the terms 
in music and musical composition. 

Hence, in addition to the cycle of categories, we may, 
if we choose, treat particular things as belonging to a 
separate branch of knowledge, and they may be c 
under two heads — 1st, History of things or c* Bd, 

Choice selections. 

HISTORY, 

1st— Discriptive geology. 1st — Literary productions. 

2d — Discriptive geography. 2d— i in music. 

3d— History proper* ; : ;d — Prjc ;, &c. 

4th — Biography 

When among the categories the same thin sents 
two or more features for consideration, each : ray 
be regarded as distinct and may be separately classed. 
Salt may be classed among certain chemical i nds, 
and Likewise among (lie condiments or antiseptics. The 
shamrock in one s< only a pli to de- 
partment Stli. while in afljother it • m- 
blematieal of a Trinity be 2 I — 



But it is an error in the system, if it admits of the same 
feature being placed under two distinct heads, and no 
less an error if it does not have a place for every con- 
ceivable thing. This supposes a degree of perfection 
which can be arrived at only through the combined la- 
bors of many. 

DEPARTMENT 1st, (Mind.) 
The science of the mind has two sub-departments, A 
and B. 

A — Includes all the faculties or powers of the mind,, 
which in the aggregate constitute all we know of the 
mind, and in philosophy is named the subject. This sub- 
department may be called Subjective Science or Psy- 
chology. * 

B — That which exists outside of the mind, or is sup- 
posed so to exist, is known as the object and is either a 
perception or conception of the faculties, and this sub* 
department may be called Objective Science. 

These two sub-departments may be again divided 7 
making six classes — 

A — Subjective 'Science. B — Objective Science-. 

Class 1st— She Senses. Class 4th— Secondary qualities. 

Class 2d — The Emotions. Class 5th— Primary qualities. 

Class 3&>— The Intellect. Ciass 6th— Original or pure con- 

ceptions or suggestions. 

A secondary quality is the experience r of one sengg 
otily; and it is a simple act of consciousness as color, 
sound and odor. We do not know that any of these 
properties really exist independent of the senses ; sound 
and light are merely vibrations, but we do not perceive 
them as such." A temperature that may be cold to one 
may be warm to another, but the temperature in reality 
must be very distinct from sensation. 

Primary qualities are supposed to have existence inde- 
pendent of the senses, though made known to us through 
ike sensible or secondary qualities, and instead of being 
mere acts of consciousness require a slight effort df the-' 
snteltecfc They iaciudesuoh ideas as form magnitude;- 



number, position and motion, and we may determine 
most of these by more than one sense ; thus form or 
number may be known either by sight or touch. 

An original conception is a suggestion of the intellect, 
as time, space, power, action, cause and effect, to which 
we may add substance, in the abstract. These are not 
perceived by the senses but conceived in consequence of 
sensible properties. Original conceptions require more 
intellect than primary qualities, while secondary quali- 
ties are nothing but modes of consciousness, and not in- 
herent qualities of objects. Though Ave liiay define these 
three classes in a general way, their parts oiten ap- 
proach each other so closely that they seem to mergo 
one into the other, and<jn their various complications 
they constitute all our knowledge of existence outside of 
ourselves. This sub-department includes the entire es- 
sence of extcrnal|being,j and might be named Ontology, 
a term which, as it is now used, has rather an indefinite 
meaning. 

The six classes of this department maybe divided and 
sub-divided until we reduce them to species, and when 
this is done on scientific principles, and terms applied in 
conformity %yith the system, we may hope to discourse 
intelligibly about the mind, and not much belore. With- 
out a good language men cannot think well, much less 
converse and words with vagtie, Uncertain meaningcloud 
our thoughts as well as our discourse. Perhaps writers 
on philosophy will be slow to admit that the obscurity 
of their style is but the reflex of the workings of their 
own minds. But a discourse is always labored when 
men attempt to explain what they do not themselves 
clearly understand, and they are commonly pointed and 
concise in proportion to the' vividness ol their impres- 
sions. 

The ill-defined terms of philosophy compel us to talk 
and think in a vague way, and it may be safest lor one's 
reputation to be a little obscure. But when this noti- 
fication is got rid of much that now seems very learned 



m profound will appear either as very common place re- 
flections or else very absurd. The circumstance that 
there is so much disagreement among philosophers is 
positive evidence of error. They do not differ in this 
manner over Euclid's demonstrations, and I think it will 
be found that most of their disputations are nothing but 
logomachy. 

Science cannot advance far without adopting a suita- 
ble language in conformity with its state of progress, 
and this conformity in language simplifies knowledge. — 
Words are the stepping-stones that enable us to pursue 
our course, and when once established they make the 
way easy for the future traveler. The difficulty is we 
have more words than we have well conceived classes 
of ideas ; they over-lap one another, and men cannot or 
will not understand them Qlike. Science makes no such 
divisions as these ; it never forms a genus out of parts 
of two or more orders. One word may be synonomous 
with another or one word may include another, but it is 
an erronious classification that makes two distinct words 
having the same meaning in part without making the 
one super-ordinate to the other. 

Common words largely represent an unmethodical 
classification of ideas. Many of them suited only to a 
state of knowledge that existed centuries ago, and when 
we apply such terms in the explanations of modern 
science, we in some degree confuse ourselves before we 
become familiar with their new application. So then if 
we wisli to make a great amount of knowledge attain- 
able we must generalize facts by making a philosophical 
classification of them in such a manner that all the parts 
will be easily understood. And with a nomenclature 
conforming to this system, all knowledge will become 
science, and in a measure familiar to every one. 

What do we understand by metaphysics — a word that 
changes its merning so often and has different accepta- 
tions in different countries. We learn nothing from its 
etymology, and its sense is so vacillating and destitute of 



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well defined limits that we can only point to a kind of 
nucleus or centre without fixing the misty bounds. This 
is not the case when we ftppak of the Aves or .Mammals, 
for we know them in all their sub-divisions. If we make 
the term metaphysics conform to department first, and 
regularly divide it into classes, orders, <fcc. and name 
and define all the separate divisions, we would give the 
wo/d a stability which nothing but an improved classifi- 
cation could change. To do this might rob the term of 
that charm obscurity flings around it, which like the 
halo, while it pleases, renders its object less* distinct. — 
It would bring it more within the comprehension of a 
child who sees, feels, enjoys and thinks after the manner 
of a savant, but knows not that he has already acquired 
all the rudiments of mental philosophy in which older 
heads arc perplexed, more by the strange terms than by 
the depth of thought. Were we to abstract the specu- 
lations ihat have never been clearly proved from all 
that has ever been written on the subject, and present 
what remains in the simplest language and most com- 
pressed form, we might be surprised how little would bo 
left that could not readily be understood by a school-boy. 

DEPARTMENT 2d, (Significance.) 

A beautiful object has the power of awakening in us 
the sentiment of the beautiful, and the power to do so is 
its significance. A gorgeous sunset is a sublime speo 
tacle — the emotion is within ourselves, but the 
object calls it forth by its significance. Owing to 
our being differently constituted the same thing may 
convey different meanings to different persons ; thus the 
thunder-storm speaks in terror to one and only in gran- 
deur to another. All forms actions or sounds have 
meaning whenever they excite emotions or convey intel- 
igence. Music may call forth joy or sadness, and harsh, 
discordant sounds are revolting to the refined ear. 

The significance of a thing is very different from the 
impress on the senses because it is perceived intellectual- 



ii 

ly 5 and is merely an intelligent feature of things that 
are classed somewhere else. This division will admit of 
three sub-departments A, B and 0. 

A— Passive Significance. — Or the power that an ob- 
ject without itself being moved by any impulse has of 
awakening in us some sentiment or thought. 

Class '1st.— Significance of things seen, as the sublime, 
the beautiful, the picturesque, and their opposites. 

Class 2nd.— Significance of sound, as musical tones 
&nd discordant noises. 

B — Impulsive Significance. — Or the acts and utter- 
ances of sentient beings -which they produce in accord- 
ance with some instinctive impulse. 

Class 3rd. — Significant conduct of sentient beings as 
attitude, urbanity, gayety. 

Class Ath.~ The language of instinct as the cries and 
gestures of animals and infants. 

C — The Language of Intelligent Beings. 

Class blh. — Signs made or agreed upon to denote 
ideas, as the language of flowers, likenesses, diagrams, 
hieroglyphics, letters and words. 

Class Qth. — Discoursing or reasoning, hy means of 
words, as syntax," logic, rhetoric. 

Class 1th. — Mathematics, or reasoning by means of 
diagrams or quantitative signs. 

DEPARTMENT 3d. 

All physical existence depends upon the two primary 
. elements, Substance and Power. Our only knowledge" 
of substance is a conception or inference that the sensi- 
ble properties of things that we experience are held to- 
gether by some basis or substratum distinct from the 
properties themselves. We might infer from recent . in- 
vestigations that there is no such thing asan impondera- 
ble substance-^-that light and heat- merely indicate modes 
of motion, and that electricity,. may be suspected to bo 
nothing-more.- Hence it would sec^ to iollow that pon: 
derable matter has the inherent power of producing the* 



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phenomena of electricity, light, heat and magnetism, btffc 
the power to do so is like matter itself, and original sug- 
gestion. 

A — Elementary Gonditions of Existence. 

Class 1st. — There are over sixty kinds or conditions 
of substances as iron, sulphur, carbon, oxygen. 

Class 2d. — There are many kinds or conditions of 
power, as inertia gravity, momenta, impenetrability, co- 
pension, capilary attraction, electricity, magnetism, heat, 
chemical affinity. 

B. — The relation between substance and power, chem- 
ically considered. 

Class 3d. — Elementary chemistry. Its laws, phenom- 
ena, nomenclature, and all chemical terms, except those 
peculiar to the arts. 

Class 4ith. — There are phenomena connected with 
electricity, magnetism, heat. &c., that have more analogy 
to chemical than to mechanical action, as congeal, melt f 
evaporate, permeate, magnetize, magnetic polarity. 

C — The relations between substance and power me- 
chanically considered. 

Class 5th. — Optics and acoustics seem to have more 
analogy to mechanics than they have to chemistry. 

Class 0>th. — Elementary mechanics, embracing dynam- 
ics, hydrostatics, pneumatics, and all mechanical terms 
except those peculiar to the arts. 

DEPARTMENT 4th, (Gross Matter.) 

Class 1st. — Mineralogy, or the ingredients composing 
the earth, as minerals proper, earths, water, air, &c. 

Class 2nd. — Geology, or terms applicable to the 
structural formation of the earth, including Paleontolo- 
gy and Volcanic phenomena. 

Class 3rd — Geographical and other terms used in 
describing the earth's surface, as the land and its asperi- 
ties, bodies of water, &c. 

Class 4th. — Climate. &c — A — Terms applicable to 
Isothermal and Geothermal lines and variations, and all 
Other peculiarities of climate 



rs 

B — Mathematical geography. 

Class 5th. — Meteorology is the study of the pheno- 
mena connected with the atmosphere. 

Class Qth. — Astronomy is a science relating tb- bodies 

remote in space. 

DEPARTMENT 5th, (Vegetable Physiology.) 

Class 1st —Cells with their modifications, vitality, and other ele- 
mentary conditions of plants. 

Class 2d.— Parts and appendages of plants. 

Class 3d. — Reproductive system. 

Class 4th. — All vegetable substances, as secretions, excretions, 
and all parts chemieaiy considered. 

Class 5th.— Habits, such as' annuals, perennials, aquatics, parasi- 
ties, dwarfs. &c. 

Class 6th.-— Diseases and remedies. 

DEPARTMENT 6th, 7th, and 8th. 

It requires but little observation to make three general depart- 
ments of plants — the flowerless, the endogens. and the exogens, and 
thf se distinctions are so very apparent that they make a good start- 
ing point for the novice. From the departments down to the orders 
the classification is not so intelligible as the corresponding divisions 
in the animal kingdom, otherwise the artificial system would be ren- 
dered useless. Whoever simplifies this part of science will do more 
to popularize botanical knowledge than the discoverer of ten thous- 
and species. 

The Fungi perhaps shouid be separated from the other Thallophy- 
tes, and should constitute a distinct class by themselves. They dif- 
fer from most forms of vegetation in being destitute of chlorophyll, 
and in consequence are incapaple of decomposing carbonic acid, or 
of assimilating inorganic matter. Like animals, ihey subsist upon 
the elaborated material of some former growth, and even in chemi- 
cal composition are not so much unlike some of the lower animals. — 
They would make quite a numerous class, and in the larger forms 
their development is quite peculiar, distinguishing them from all 
other plants in a very marked manner. f 

DEPARTMENT 9th, (Animal Physiology.) 
Class 1st. — Cell formation andother elementary parts as glands, &c. 

Class 2d.— Anatomical parts and appendages, as the organs of 
locomotions. 

Class 3d. — The circulatory and digestive system. 

Class 4th.— The nervous system. 

Class 5th. — Reproductive system. 
Class 6th,— Secretions and animal substance chemically considered. 

Class 7th.— Habits, as development and peculiarities of animals. 

Class 8th — Diseases and remedies, also health, energy, &c. 

The simplest form of animal life is a mere elementary cell belong- 
ing to the Protozoa, This division of animals likewise contains the 
simplegt agglutination of elementary cells, so independent of each 
other that it is difficult to decide whether the agglutination is most a 



14 

Btfigfe anim<i>, or a colony of living cells. In aoiriewhat higher 
lorms of life this combination assumes more the appeararce of a 
unit or Mngle animal, but the union of parts takes place in two ways* 
When the connection takes plac^ around a common centre they seem 
to radiate from that centre, and the Radiata may be regarded as a 
higher development of this form. We may trace the principles of 
radiation in some of the molusca, though in many instances it may 
be lost by the abortion of pans. Some appear as enlarged or com- 
plicated cells or sacks with radiated parts, but in every c.ase as a 
general rule they do not have their organs or members, in corres- 
ponding pairs, so perfectly as the Articulata or Vertebrata. Among 
other peculiarities of these animals are their digestive powers which 
are much better tban their locomotion. 

When the agglutination of cells takes place in a line, instead of 
around a centre, so that the union makes a string and not a circle, a 
new form ol development is observed, rudimentary in the Protozoa 
but advanced to segments in the Articulata. Take the Taenia, for 
example, one of the lowest of its division, with its numerous similar 
parts, yet every segment has sexual organs and is capable of repro- 
duction like independent beings. When these Joints are severed 
from one another each part under favorable conditions continues to 
live and give off eggs, and had the segments never been connected 
it might not have been classed with the Articulata. 

As we advance to higher orders in this department, the segments 
become more and more unl'ke each other, different parts having dif- 
ferent functions to perform, so that an important section could not 
be removed without destroying the whole. One characteristic of 
this form of development is 'be organs or appendages come in pairs, 
and one side of the animal is the counter-part ot the other in a more 
eminent degree than in the Gastrozoa. 

The oldest remairs of Vertebrata yet discovered bear a strong re- 
semblance to. an extinct Crustacea, and almost every new discovery 
in Paleontology seems to establbh an intermediate connecting link 
between races that are either now living or extinct. The rocks may 
contain, comparatively, only a tew of the t\pes that once txisted, 
and men have as yet brought to light a very inconsiderable portion 
of what the rocks entombed. 

Whatever may have been the connecting link between the articu- 
lated and osseous animals, if we take the living specimens as we find 
them, the Articulata does not dihVr more from the Radiata or Mollu- 
ca than it does from the Vertebrata, and the difference between the 
Mollusco, Radiata and Protozoa is hcaicely so great. The kind and 
degree of development seems to divide the animal kingdom into 
three natural departments, Gustrozoa, \rticuhta aud Vertebrata. 

DEPARTMENT 10th, (Gastrozoa.) 
Animals having the simplest forms or inclining to radiate. The 
system of bavin* the parts in correspoding pairs is not cl< sely adbei ed 
to. The digestive system better tban the locomotive. Tbethreoaub- 
departments ire A, Protozoa ; B, Radiata ; and C, Mollusca. 



15 

DEPARTMENT 11th, (Articulaia.) 

Animals developed in a line with the lateral parts in corresponding 
pairs, and having an articulated structure. The organization gener- 
ally better fitted tor locomotion than for great powers of digestion. 

DEPARTMENT 12th, (Veriebrata.) 
Animals highly developed, havfng a bony irame-work, and the parts 
corresponding in pairs. Th^ organization fitted both for digestion 
and locomotion in a high degree. 

It may be that a portion of the Protozoa is more nearly related to 
the Articulata than it is to the Mollu>ca, since both forms of devel- 
opment, in an incipient state, may be noticed in this sub department. 
Among living species none of the Ver tebrata approximate very 
closely fo either of the Other divisions, and though the Cephalopoda 
may approach them in having a complicated structure, activity of 
movement, and a degree ot intelligence, yet it is plain they are de- 
veloped upon a system entirely different, notwithstanding they have 
the rudiments of something analogous to bone. 

DEPARTMENT 13th, (Cnemical arts.) 

The theory or science of chemistry relates to first principles, and 
belongs to department 8»d. But as an art it is more or less mixed np 
with mechanical manipulations, and includes every art dependent on 
some important chemical operation. 

Class 1st. — Culinary art, &c, as cooking, maKing fermented 
drinKs, pertumes, preserving by antiseptics, sugar making. 

Class 2d. — Tanning, soap making, clensing by soap or other chem- 
ical means, bh aching, dyeing, and coloring, photography. 

Class 3d.— Preparing chemicals, as acids, medicines, paints, dyes, 
fulminating compounds, gum cotton ana gun powder. 

Class 4th. — Preparations that have their consistency effected by 
means of heat or slower chemical changes, as pottery, brick making, 
glass making, cements. 

Class 5th.— Metallurgy, as reducing ores to metals, retining^alloying 

Class 6th.— -Chemical laws turned to practical use in agriculture. 
DEPARTMENT 14th, (Mechanical Arts.) 

The first principles of mechauics as a science belong to department 
3d. The departments 13ih and lith include the arts or inventions 
which men devise to make the laws of matter subservient to human 
purpose*. But as they exhibit mental contrivance, and taking this 
as a leading feature in classification, they are separable from physics, 
and belong near department 15th. 

Class 1st. — Machines and implements used principally in con- 
struction, or in the transformation of solid materials, or in conveyance.. 

Class 2d. — Fureiture utensils and apparatus, used principally for 
domestic and philosop&ical purposes. 

Class 3d. — Structures, as frames, edifice?, ships, bridges, forts* 
and the names of the parts of a structure. 

Class 4th. — Passageways, roads, embankments, excavation*, 
quarries, mines, and terms connected with these arts. 

Class 6th.— Fibrous texture, as felting cloth, cordage, paper, 
leather. 



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u 

Class 6th.— Covering and ornaments, as «1 \J Ufc I ww I H00 
trinkets, jewelrv. 

Class 7th. — Standards of reference, as weights, measures, coin, 
tnpdal*, medalinns, char's, maps, books. 

Class 8ni. — Designs, as sculpture, carving, moulding, modeling, 
drawing, pain'ing. 

DKfARTMENT 15th, (Social Science.) 

Class 1st. — Manners and customs. 

Class 2d. — Etiquette, or elegant manner*. 

Class 3n. — E'Mcs, or rules of morality or rectitude. 

Class 4m. — Statutes or laws enacted by governments or corpora* 
tlons. 

Class 5th. — Governments embracing the different forms, and so- 
cial and poliical organizations. 

Class 6th. — Distinctions in society, natural relations, as parent, 
child, brother, political distinctions, as prince, ruler, magistrate, sub- 
ject, military distinctions, as marshal, captaiu, Church distinctions, 
as priest, layman. 

DEPARTMENT 16tb, (Pneumatology.) 

A — The Finite and subordinate. 

Class 1st. — Terms applicable to a religious state of mind, or to a 
firm belief in the supernatural. 

Classed.— ^Spiritual beings whose existence has been revealed, or 
ethereal phantoms superstitiously imagined and religiously believed 
to be. 

Class 3d, — Immaterial localities of spirits, either of happiness or 
misery. 

B.— THE INFINITE AND SUPREME. 

The idea of a Creator admits of no classification with things crea- 
ted except. through the general notion of spiritual bodies nor perhaps 
even here were we capable of comprehending the spiritual. 

Thus far an attempt h*s been made to.class knowledge in a radia- 
ting circle, beginning with the /acuities of consciousness, and termi- 
nating with the conception /)f the Absolute. Yet whoever takes the 
initiatory in classing all knowledge, and carries the subdivisions 
down to species, must necessarily betray bis mental proclivities and 
mode of thinking, and expose all of his weak points. But a system 
once brought to a degree of perfection embodies in some measure 
the knowledge of every one who helped to construct it and besides 
it gives instruction to others in the plainest and most conscise form. 
It exhibits the degree of affiinity between things which no other 
form could make so intelligible. 






